Louisiana violence against police registry mostly unused after 15 years, audit finds

Louisiana’s database of residents who have committed acts of violence against peace officers only included 10 names in August 2022 — more than 15 years after the law requiring the state maintain went into effect — a state audit of the registry found.

Louisiana’s Violence Against Peace Officers (VAPO) Registry was created by the state’s legislature in 2005 with the goal of maintaining a database of offenders who had pled guilty to or convicted of acts of violence against law enforcement. The law required the Louisiana State Police create and maintain the database, as well as procedures on how local law enforcement and the Louisiana Department of Corrections should send information for the registry.

But the LSP did not send out the procedures and policies until September 2022, despite them being created more than a decade earlier, the audit found. As of August 2022 — roughly 17 years after the database was created — only 10 names were listed in the registry.

Of the 10 included in the registry at the time, only six should have been included. The four others were either deceased, incarcerated, had moved out of Louisiana or were outside the 10-year registration period.

As of May 24, 2023, the VAPO Registry had 114 active offenders.

Here’s what the audit showed:

What is the VAPO Registry?

During the 2005 legislative session, the legislature passed “The Trey Hutchinson Act,” which required the state create the registry and that offenders should be included for 10 years. Hutchinson was a Bossier City Police Department officer who was killed while responding to a domestic violence call in August 2004.

The database was created to be an electronic database with information on any adult living in Louisiana who has pled guilty to or has been convicted of certain offenses against a peace officer while the officer is engaged in their lawful duties. The goal was to help prevent violence against officers, the audit said.

In 2019, the legislature moved to add a provision requiring that the registry include information on those convicted of terrorism offenses, though the registry did not include anyone with terrorism offenses as of May 2023. The legislature also voted to have the Louisiana State Police create an alert flag for VAPO offenders’ criminal records.

An audit of the registry was commissioned by the legislature to see whether it was being properly implemented. The audit was conducted by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor.

How was the registry supposed to work?

Under the VAPO Registry statutes, offenders are required to register within 10 days of being released from incarceration or within 10 days of establishing residency with the local sheriff’s office or police department.

The offenders are required to provide relevant personal information, including their place of residency. They also have to fill out an annual verification of address form sent out by the Louisiana State Police. The form has to be returned within 10 days of receipt.

If an offender does not comply with the law, they are subject to a maximum fine of $500 and/or between 30 and 90 days imprisonment.

The Office of State Police was required to create the registry and provide information to all Louisiana law enforcement agencies upon request. The office was also tasked with creating the flag alert and mailing address verification forms on the anniversary of an offender’s initial registration date. If an offender does not return the verification within 30 days, the office is expected to contact the local law enforcement agency at the last known address.

The Department of Corrections was expected to inform VAPO offenders of registration requirements and to collect the information for registration. The DOC was also supposed to send the information to LSP within five days of collection.

The law also required local law enforcement agencies to record offenders’ fingerprints when they register and forward registration information to LSP within five days of collection.

Audit shows state police and department of corrections did not comply with statutory requirements

Though the law creating the database — and establishing the responsibilities of the state police and DOC in filling and maintaining the database — went into effect in 2005 the agencies did not implement any processes to ensure the registry was accurate until September 2022.

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Prior to March 2010, the Louisiana State Police kept the registry in a spreadsheet. In March 2010, LSP moved the registry to a separate database. Later that year, in August, the state police created internal procedures for the registry, including registration requirements and a registration form.

But the state police would not implement a formal process until September 2022 — more than a decade after it developed the internal procedures. The audit said up until that point, the LSP had not proactively worked with state and local law enforcement to submit offender information.

At the same time, the Louisiana Department of Corrections was not complying with the statute’s requirements that it submit information to the registry. The audit said that DOC staff faced challenges identifying who should be put on the registry due to issues with the state’s Corrections and Justice Unified Network (CAJUN), which is used by DOC to track incarcerated people in Louisiana.

Many local law enforcements were also unaware of the registry — or their responsibilities related to it — until recently, the audit said.

According to the audit, the Louisiana Sheriff’s Association said it advised state sheriff’s offices around the state of the registry in 2019, but the offices only began complying with the requirements in fall 2022 after being contacted by LSP or DOC.

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LSP did implement the VAPO Offender alert flag on criminal history records in 2011, ahead of the legislature making its request for the alert. It also created another alert flag in May 2023 that is delivered to local law enforcement anytime they run an included offender’s driver’s license.

The audit suggested some potential solutions to improve the registry, including requiring registration during sentencing, which could help ensure the information is collected and accurate.

In response to the audit, the Louisiana State Police and the Department of Corrections largely agreed with the findings, though they noted that the processes are now in place.

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This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Louisiana violence against police registry not accurate for 15 years